This guest post is by Autism Speaks Blog contributor Kerry Magro. Kerry, an adult who has autism, is a junior at Seton Hall University, majoring in Sports Management. He is currently working at Autism Speaks as a writer.

Hello all and welcome to Day 2 of Race Weekend! Saturday was a terrific day at Dover International Speedway. The day’s events surrounded the Nationwide Series Race. I was on the run all day but got an opportunity to meet several members of the Dollar General Stores Toyota racing team. Many thanks to them for letting me see some of the behind the scenes sights of Race Weekend. Yesterday would not have been the same without your generosity. Now moving on to the races…

Driver Kyle Busch (Combos Toyota) left Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race upset that he let his lead slip away in the final few laps. Saturday, Kyle was prepared to not let the same mistake occur. When the race day was done, Busch (who didn’t run out of fuel today after running out of gas in the Trucks Race) was victorious in the Heluva Good 200 Nationwide Series race (Saturday). Busch, who received a mix of boos and cheers all day from the race fans, shook the boos off as he took the checkered flag at the Monster Mile. Busch will now try to go for back to back wins as he races Sunday in the Autism Speaks 400 Sprint Cup Series Race.

The other big story from Saturday came from drivers Jamie McMurray (K’Nex Chevrolet) and Reed Sorenson (Dollar General Stores Toyota). Both these drivers and their teams have meant a lot to Autism Speaks in spreading awareness of autism. Both drivers performed admirably with Jamie McMurray finishing in 3rd after starting in pole position 27 and Reed Sorenson finishing in 4th after starting in 14th. Both have a lot to be proud of from finishing as strongly as they did.

We are now down to our final day (Sunday) of Race Weekend. We here at Autism Speaks are expectantly waiting for a thrilling finish (the Autism 400) to what has been an amazing weekend. We will keep you posted through the Autism Speaks Blog (along with Twitter) all day long todayand hope you enjoy what is to come!

My grandson has aspergers. He is afraid to ride his bike. His dad & stepmom have tried to force him to learn to ride & he is reluctant. He is afraid of falling & getting hurt. I feel it is not important to make him ride. He doesn’t want to go to his dad’s sometimes because they make him get out & ride. I don’t know much about this condition & we all need some info on how to handle these situations.

My grandson refused to speak when he was little, about 2 years old. I babysat him for the first year and a half and tried to get him involved with games, toys, etc. But he didn’t show any interest in any of them. I love playing on a computer and I noticed him wanting to try play on it. I showed him how to use a computer, he loved it and is still addicted. At 2 and half years of age he was better on the computer than most people. But he still refused to speak (he could read and did pick that up quickly from the computer). I walked him to the park (a block away) and to a dollar store after I gave him a dollar. We did this regularly if he felt like it. As we walked I was trying to get him to speak. I finally told him that he if didn’t want to call me grandma, that he could pick out a name for me. Surprisingly he did and named me Max later that day, which he still calls me, after that he named everyone around him (Corn was one of this favorites). He was diagnosed with a slight case of autism when he started school at age five. He did not speak sentences very well and had a hard time putting sentences together. I told my daughter that she shouldn’t worry about the diagnoses and that we would work with him, we just didn’t want autism to be applied to his school record as we didn’t want him to be treated differently than other children and we didn’t want him to be “pigeon-holed”. He was put in a class that handled other children with personality differences. He still acts out, but he now plays with other kids. He is one grade ahead in his language abilities.
I seen a special on T.V. about how autistic children respond to animals and I do agree with this as I did breed and still raise pit bulls. He handles them like a pro and still does. We have to watch him closely for when he acts out as there is always a reason why he is and it is up to us to figure it out as his reality is different that ours. It is up to us to teach him our reality patiently so he can understand us better. He has responded well (understanding us). I don’t know if this would work for others, but we do understand the frustration that other parents go through, especially when they know that their child is very intelligent but unable to communicate to the loved ones around them. Keep up the good work and if no one has told you (parents) lately that you are doing a good job, well you are.

my grandson has not acted out with me but he has with his parents. His father reasons with him and now my daughter does it too. I hve found that by making his surroundings calm and safe for him, he does better. I’m just wondering if his stepmom is pressuring him to where he won’t ride the bike ever. When he feels confident, I feel he will get on the bike & ride- but until that time punishing him by taking his DS away only adds to his frustration level. Am I wrong to speak up for him?